Chapter 6

The special effects artist, Alan, after watching Eva's footage, was shocked and decided to calm down and watch the material again.

Earlier, he was too stunned to notice anything else.

Now, he began to watch carefully.

He found that Eva had not only produced an impeccable long take but had also paid meticulous attention to detail.

She seemed to have worked closely with the art director, as the colors in the film were beautifully done.

These colors could be described as vibrant, harmonious, spicy, and outstanding.

Whether it was the actors or the background, everything seemed like different colors taken from a palette, filling the entire screen.

This perfectly matched the theme of the short film—vibrant, exciting, and spicy.

Additionally, Eva had directed the actors very well. The lead actress, Alisha, exhibited a style reminiscent of Saoirse Ronan.

At this moment, Alan was completely impressed by Eva. The superb long take was enough to place Eva among the strongest newcomers of the year.

So, when Eva arrived at the studio the next day, she noticed a complete change in the attitudes of the special effects artists, sound engineers, and others.

They looked at her as if she were a highly promising piece of art.

And they all began to praise her in unison, "Hey, girl, we saw the footage you brought in yesterday."

"Oh my God, how did you do it? A full five minutes!"

"God, I can't believe you're only 18 and managed to shoot such an incredible scene!"

"Take my hat off to you!"

Eva was pleased by their compliments, but she didn't show it on her face. After all, she wasn't really 18, nor was she a true "newcomer."

Moreover, this wasn't exactly a success.

She thought it would be better to celebrate when she achieved real success.

But she didn't let her complicated emotions show. She tried to look happy, "I'm glad to hear that. Thank you."

Then she started working with the staff on post-production special effects and sound design for the short film.

Since it was a continuous shot, there was no need for an editor.

Eva had shot on film, and since it was only five minutes, she didn't need to buy many reels, avoiding a financial loss.

Although most films are shot digitally nowadays, saving time and effort, some directors still insist on using film.

The texture achieved with film is something digital can never match.

The post-production color grading of film is also more realistic than digital.

Therefore, Eva was quite meticulous about the color grading.

She told the special effects artist, "I don't want it to look like TV news. I know achieving a textured look takes a lot of work and is expensive, so I don't need you to go that far. Just make the colors highly saturated."

High contrast and vivid colors were Eva's only requirements.

Colors reflect the characters' inner world, and in such a bright and radiant atmosphere, the colors must be vibrant and flamboyant.

Eva wanted the color contrast and saturation to be like a fairy tale.

She hoped the short film's tones would be like candy, cake, wine, and even a potent drug.

Pastel blue, pastel green, sweet and sugary.

So, most of her time in post-production was spent adjusting the colors.

Sound design was relatively simple; she just needed to insert the original soundtrack from "Spring Awakening."

Overall, for a five-minute short film, how complicated could post-production be?

It was something that could be resolved in a few days.

Moreover, no editing was required, saving a lot of work.

One day, after spending the entire day at the studio, Eva was planning to return to her rented apartment.

On the way, she received a call from Alisha, who mentioned a great new coffee shop and wanted to meet Eva there.

Eva agreed, and they met at the coffee shop.

Eva sat down, and Alisha had been waiting for her for a while.

Alisha smiled sweetly at Eva, "How's the short film going?"

Eva downed a large glass of iced water, feeling overheated from rushing over, "It's going well. I think we'll be done within a week."

Alisha suddenly winked at her, "Eva, everyone is guessing... are you a lesbian?"

Eva tilted her head and looked at Alisha, "Why do they say that?"

Alisha smiled with her lips pressed together, "Because you seem to dislike boys."

Eva paused, "I don't know. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."

Alisha responded in surprise, "Wow, I didn't know there were people with uncertain sexual orientation."

Eva laughed at Alisha's comment, giving a small smile, "Is there a need to be so surprised? But I do prefer being with girls."

Alisha confessed with a laugh, "I'm not a lesbian, but for Kristen Stewart, I wouldn't mind changing my orientation, haha."

Eva was initially stunned, then couldn't help but encourage Alisha, "Good luck with that... maybe you'll succeed."

Kristen Stewart had just gained global fame with "Twilight" this year, known as the "Twilight girl." Despite her dramatic relationship with the "Twilight guy" over the next few years, she really did start liking women later on...

Alisha took a deep breath, "Just kidding. I don't even have a chance to meet them, let alone be swayed by them."

Eva, more optimistic than Alisha, said with a smile, "That's why we need to work hard. Dreams are called dreams because they require effort to achieve."

Although they were far from those Hollywood big names, they couldn't even reach their toes.

But Eva believed that was what dreams were about, a goal to strive for.

***

The main difficulty of this five-minute short film was in the shooting process.

So post-production didn't take much time, and Eva and the studio's special effects artists completed it quickly.

After paying the final installment, Eva took the short film home.

She then burned the short film onto a DVD, filled out a resume, and submitted it to the competition organizers, officially entering the short film.

Next was the wait for the organizers to select the shortlisted works. The final prize results would be announced at an awards ceremony.

After submitting her work, Eva was on her way back to her rented apartment when she happened to pass by the small villa in the city's affluent area where she used to live.

The villa was now empty.

Coincidentally, she saw a former maid from the villa outside, showing the house to a real estate agent.

Eva heard them talking about selling the house.

She was about to leave when the maid saw her and called out, "Miss Cody."

Eva stopped and said, "Long time no see. Are you planning to sell this villa?"

The maid looked Eva up and down, "Yes, Mr. Scott asked me to sell it. His reason was that the villa would no longer be frequently used. But since you're here, I have some things you left behind. You might want to take them."

Eva nodded, "Okay, thank you."

The maid seemed polite, "You're welcome. It's Mr. Scott's idea. But he's not here, so you don't have to worry."

Eva smiled, "I don't mind whether he's here or not. You know, we have no relationship anymore."

The maid said with a hint of pity, "I have Mr. Scott's contact information if you need it..."

"I don't need it, thank you very much," Eva replied firmly.

Perhaps in the maid's eyes, Eva was someone to be pitied, thinking she might be distraught without her benefactor, hence offering help out of sympathy.

But that was the old Eva, not her.

She no longer wanted any connection with Alexander Scott.

Eva then took her remaining belongings, including some photo albums, and left.

Meanwhile, at the Irish Film Association, which was organizing the short film competition, the judges were browsing through the submitted entries, voting on those that could enter the competition.

The varying quality of these entries had given the judges quite a headache.

Some short films were so mediocre they were cut off by the judges after just the opening scenes.

Others were so exceptionally good from the very first frame that the judges watched them with great interest.

At this moment, one of the judges responsible for screening the entries, Rosen, was sitting in front of the screen, watching each one.

He had to watch about ten short films daily, scoring them one by one.

Before watching each competition entry, he needed to review the director's resume.

Now, he opened Eva's resume.

To be honest, having been a member of the selection committee for so long, he had seen countless resumes, including many unconventional ones.

Eva's resume was quite decent. At least she was a film student, a formal academic background.

After reading Eva's resume, Rosen began to watch her work.

Honestly, the resume didn't make him expect much.

He had seen many impressive resumes, with many directors having previous works. Eva's was quite ordinary.

Then he pressed the button to start watching the short film.

He glanced at the runtime.

Only five minutes.

Based on his experience with numerous resumes and works, he guessed that he might only watch two to three minutes of Eva's work.

Then the screen lit up.

The style of the first shot was somewhat reminiscent of European long takes.

But what caught Rosen's eye was the film's colors, which were... stimulating.

Pastel blue, pastel green, candy pink, and creamy yellow.

The color scheme was highly coordinated.

Moreover, it was evident that the director had put a lot of effort into the post-production color grading.

At least the visuals had a painterly texture, suggesting it was shot on film.

This was quite unusual; he had seen hundreds of entries, and very few were shot on film.

In this era of digital filming, few people insisted on using film. Even Kodak was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Not bad. This persistence in using film was commendable.

But that alone wasn't enough